When I first saw that there was a continuation of HwD, I was actually very pleased because the original was my favorite for a long time.
I was looking forward to seeing the possibility of Iwaki continuing to mend the bridge between himself and his family, maybe have more scenes of him and his brother become closer to make up for the years of separation due to the different paths they took. After seeing Iwaki spend so much time with his Katou in-laws and Yousuke, it would've been nice to see him spend time with his niece to see what she might be like, since we saw her as a baby last time.
It also would've been nice to see Carlo and Magira from Casino Lily (and their appearance in the HwD manga) make a reappearance in the sequel.
***Spoilers*** Unfortunately, all we got were a few cameos from Iwaki's family before completely disappearing into the aether and having to watch him suffer more for the rest of the sequel. I swear, this sequel seemed like Nitta had a grudge against my boy Iwaki. He already went through enough trauma in the OG series, from his fear of losing Katou, the lack of support from his family, and the r@pe attempts against him.
Then we're introduced to Shou, whom I strongly believe was the result of an act that wasn't quite consensual. In this manga, Iwaki himself was pretty young (late teens-early 20s) and it looked like he was manipulated by his then manager Kiriko into having sex, as compensation for having to use her body to get even the smallest of jobs for him when he started out acting. Keep in mind, the two met when he was still a minor, so...
Then he has to endure being on the receiving end of her jealousy that he turned out all right--having a successful acting career, is in a loving relationship, and is managing his own agency. Oh, and Nitta really HAD to do my boy dirty even more by including THAT scene as a flashback when Iwaki "helped" Yousuke deal with [fill in the blank here bc I will not elaborate any further].
And finally, how the story would eventually conclude. Iwaki always had this fear of losing Katou, from since ch. 18 (Inside Report) in the original HwD manga. To make his fear a reality only made the ending more heartbreaking for Iwaki. The cause of Katou's death was so preventable but Nitta really had to make him go out that way. I really was hoping that if "Alive" were to include the two being together in death, I thought they would live on for more years, with Iwaki dying first from a heart-related disease and Katou would follow not long after.
The only thing I thought was a good idea was that Iwaki decided to quit acting, go into politics and be the reason for same-sex marriage being legalized in Japan.
That being said, I love the art work--no dispute on that, and the sex scenes are always satisfying. But I felt that there were more missed opportunities as I've mentioned above, and it's exhausting to see my boy Iwaki having to endure more problems, with losing Katou being the breaking point, given how it could've been avoided or at the very least been done better.
Sorry for the overly long review/rant, but I thought I'd give my 2 cents on this while being constructive as possible.
When I first saw that there was a continuation of HwD, I was actually very pleased because the original was my favorite for a long time.
I was looking forward to seeing the possibility of Iwaki continuing to mend the bridge between himself and his family, maybe have more scenes of him and his brother become closer to make up for the years of separation due to the different paths they took. After seeing Iwaki spend so much time with his Katou in-laws and Yousuke, it would've been nice to see him spend time with his niece to see what she might be like, since we saw her as a baby last time.
It also would've been nice to see Carlo and Magira from Casino Lily (and their appearance in the HwD manga) make a reappearance in the sequel.
***Spoilers***
Unfortunately, all we got were a few cameos from Iwaki's family before completely disappearing into the aether and having to watch him suffer more for the rest of the sequel. I swear, this sequel seemed like Nitta had a grudge against my boy Iwaki. He already went through enough trauma in the OG series, from his fear of losing Katou, the lack of support from his family, and the r@pe attempts against him.
Then we're introduced to Shou, whom I strongly believe was the result of an act that wasn't quite consensual. In this manga, Iwaki himself was pretty young (late teens-early 20s) and it looked like he was manipulated by his then manager Kiriko into having sex, as compensation for having to use her body to get even the smallest of jobs for him when he started out acting. Keep in mind, the two met when he was still a minor, so...
Then he has to endure being on the receiving end of her jealousy that he turned out all right--having a successful acting career, is in a loving relationship, and is managing his own agency. Oh, and Nitta really HAD to do my boy dirty even more by including THAT scene as a flashback when Iwaki "helped" Yousuke deal with [fill in the blank here bc I will not elaborate any further].
And finally, how the story would eventually conclude. Iwaki always had this fear of losing Katou, from since ch. 18 (Inside Report) in the original HwD manga. To make his fear a reality only made the ending more heartbreaking for Iwaki. The cause of Katou's death was so preventable but Nitta really had to make him go out that way. I really was hoping that if "Alive" were to include the two being together in death, I thought they would live on for more years, with Iwaki dying first from a heart-related disease and Katou would follow not long after.
The only thing I thought was a good idea was that Iwaki decided to quit acting, go into politics and be the reason for same-sex marriage being legalized in Japan.
That being said, I love the art work--no dispute on that, and the sex scenes are always satisfying. But I felt that there were more missed opportunities as I've mentioned above, and it's exhausting to see my boy Iwaki having to endure more problems, with losing Katou being the breaking point, given how it could've been avoided or at the very least been done better.
Sorry for the overly long review/rant, but I thought I'd give my 2 cents on this while being constructive as possible.